As President Barack Obama's signature healthcare policy bore its first fruit this week, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts solidified its dominance of the healthcare buyout market this year.

KKR announced Friday that it had struck a $1.7 billion deal for Panasonic Corp.'s healthcare unit. Combined with its $1.3 billion purchase of PRA International in June, the firm's two deals account for nearly half of the $6.41 billion in private-equity-backed healthcare acquisitions this year.

KKR could put even further distance between itself and the field if its bid for Johnson & Johnson's Ortho Clinical Diagnostics is successful; The Wall Street Journal reports that the business could fetch $5 billion.